We wanted to treat ourselves after working very hard at Vancouver Digital Week doing livestreaming, live twitter, mobile new media photography and videography with our social media connections.

Keeping with our new lessons from the week, we decided to keep using Twitter, a fantastic social media tool to keep interacting with each other and our community. We have a very strong desire to stay connected and keep learning 🙂

We picked La Casa Gelato as it was near our area of the Vancouver Downtown Eastside ( DTES). Our purpose was two fold – to eat some great ice cream and to use “Twitter” to “tweet” or give live updates on our dining experience. 🙂

We created on Twitter a new account: @Tweets_and_Eats

We combined the two words of “Tweets and Eats ” to make a new word called “Tweats” and built a new and separate Food Review site for our dining experiences in Vancouver

The New Media BC POPVOX AWARDS recognizes all major sectors of the digital media industry and celebrates its creativity, talent, and achievements. Held during Vancouver Digital Week, the POPVOX AWARDS party is not to be missed!

PopVox (from vox populi – L. voice of the people) is the people’s choice awards held during Vancouver Digital Week. The PopVox Awards recognizes all major sectors of the digital media industry and celebrates its creativity, talent, and achievements.

Creators submit their projects and the people vote online for their favorites. After all the votes are in, the winners will be announced at the PopVox Awards Gala on May 13th, 2009.

The PopVox Awards is a New Media BC initiative. New Media BC is a not-for-profit industry association. We represent the digital media industry at large and implement strategic projects derived from ongoing dialogue and consultation with our members.

Pedicabs and their new tour guides from our local area including the Vancouver Downtown Eastside training and learning many things including:maintenance, customer service, time and small business management and skills and history of both Chinatown and Gastown – our tourists and local citizens are in for a treat! 🙂

In the photo below, Garvin Snider dressed in red is training to be one of the newest Pedicab operators 🙂

The Pedicab project is outlined below and highlights some of the work that BOB is currently doing in our neighborhood 🙂

Pedicabs

A pedicab is a bicycle-rickshaw ridden by a tour guide for hire and usually seats one or two passengers. The pedicab project is led by the Chinatown Business Improvement Association (BIA), with BOB providing a grant to kick-start development of the project.

By providing visitors with an environmentally friendly, fun and novel way of seeing the sights, the BIA expects to boost tourism and employment in the inner-city. Best of all, passengers will find the pedicab experience from the waterfront through Gastown and Chinatown an adventure with knowledgeable guides willing and able to provide a unique and multi-faceted experience.

In the photo below, Hendrik Beune, Director of AHA MEDIA, smiles and waves as he takes a test ride as a new Pedicab tour guide for our two historical neighborhoods – Gastown and Chinatown 🙂

BOB’s BusinessLink program will assist in the recruitment and training of pedicab guides in the inner-city. This project is just another example of how BOB is helping bring positive change to the inner-city.

For more information about this project, please contact Andrew McKay at (778) 328-7672 or email andrew.mckay@bobics.org.

Our new tour guides even get history lessons to help them tell their tales to their adventure-loving passengers!

After all the training and lessons Pedicab guides will be fit and ready to welcome anyone to our area! 🙂

Our summer in our neighborhoods of Gastown and Chinatown are going to get alot more exciting and more friendly with our new PediCab tourguides! 🙂